FEATURED
BOOKS:
Leading
for Innovation and Organizing for Results
Usability
Testing for Library Web Sites: A Hands-on Guide
Super Searchers
Cover the World: The Online Secrets of International Business Researchers
Internet
Prophets: Enlightened E-Business Strategies for Every Budget

This
month
we get inspired to innovate, learn to
test the usability of our Web sites, pick up some hints on e-business strategies,
and gain knowledge of international business resources.

Leading for
Innovation and Organizing for Results
edited by Frances
Hesselbein, Marshall Goldsmith, and Iain Somerville

Although you may
get tired of reading the word innovation, this collection of essays,
sponsored by the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management,
will help you understand the value of it and the ways to encourage it within
your organization.

The book is divided
into four parts: leading people who make innovation happen, creating an
environment that encourages innovation, changing how you think about leadership
and innovation, and the practice of innovation. Each section contains essays
from a variety of authors; some present case studies from their own experience,
others report on research or observations from consulting work or academia,
and a few just present ideas or new ways to look at things.

In the first section,
the authors focus on the problem of cultivating creativity and diversity
in the workplace as the keys to innovation. My favorite essay in this part
is by Marshall Goldsmith, who talks about how to change the behavior of
successful
people. This is crucial, as innovation needs to occur within a successful
organization, and the usual traits that make a CEO successful tend to discourage
innovation.

In the second section,
creating an environment that encourages innovation, the authors are all
in agreement that the culture of the organization must emphasize
and nurture innovation, and somehow that message must be conveyed to every
person in the organization. Part Three contains the essays that really
make you think—challenging your notions of leadership and innovation. And
the last section presents some examples of how innovation within various
types of organizations has really made a difference. These case studies
can help you see the practical results that can be achieved when you encourage
and plan for innovation.

This book is aimed
at leaders at all levels of an organization and will inspire you to really
think about the ways you do business.

Most libraries
collect all kinds of statistics on the number of users and the pages accessed
on their Web sites, but never bother to check that the users are actually
finding the information they seek. With this short and simple guide, put
together by librarians from the University of Arizona and the University
of Illinois at Chicago, you no longer have an excuse to put off the testing
of your users.

The book begins
with a short introduction to usability testing and why you want to do it.
The authors then talk very briefly about the basics of good Web design—presumably
to help you get a decent Web site up before you start testing. The next
two chapters are the most useful in the book. They cover getting buy-in
and planning for the Web usability testing. Having worked with a number
of organizations to establish Web site effectiveness, I concur with the
authors that getting buy-in for the whole idea is crucial to having anything
useful happen with the data you are about to collect.

Although the brief
description of how to conduct a usability study will probably be enough
for those with some knowledge on the subject, or for those wanting just
a quick and dirty study, some may need to look elsewhere for detailed guidance
in the design and implementation of the usability test. The list of additional
readings at the end of the book will help, but many good references are
missing from it.

The last chapter
of the book walks you through a fictional example of a Web usability test
from start to finish, which serves as a summary of the rest of the book.
But since the entire book is only 69 pages long, I found this rather redundant,
as I think the space could have been better used to further develop some
issues barely mentioned. Still, this brief guide will help any organization
to conduct basic, low-budget usability testing of their Web sites.

Yes, these "Super
Searcher" books are addictive. Maybe that's why we are in this industry—for
the love of the quest and knowledge on how to find things. It doesn't even
matter if we are interested in that exact subject area right now, the techniques
and tips are stored away for future use.

In this book, expert
searcher Mary Ellen Bates conducted 15 interviews with super business researchers
from around the world. Some of the difficulties of global research become
clear right from the outset—the researchers chosen had to be able to converse
in English, because that is the only language the author can understand.
And in finding the researchers, one quickly realizes that it is not possible
to be familiar with "global" resources. One becomes familiar with resources
within a region or industry, and then develops contacts to help with questions
pertaining to other parts of the globe. That's why choosing researchers
from different countries is so important. The most useful information is
often local or regional—nothing provides comprehensive coverage of "international"
information.

I find it striking
that the same questions can be asked 15 times and still be interesting.
The author and the editor, Reva Basch, must take a lot of the credit for
putting slightly different spins on the questions. And, of course, the
interviewees seem to have so much information to share that there is always
something unique to add. The range of resources available is staggering,
which explains why nearly every interview stated that personal contacts
are crucial. It is not always what you know, but who knows it.

All of the 216
resources mentioned are compiled in an appendix at the end of the book,
with short descriptions and URLs. A handy index then helps you find who
mentioned a particular resource.

My only complaint
about this book is that it was too broad in coverage. Perhaps we can look
forward to regional "Super Searcher" books in the future.

OK, the title of
this book confused me. I was thinking I would hear from real people about
e-business strategies for different size organizations and budgets. Instead,
I met Eenie, Meenie, Miney, and Moe—characters used to help differentiate
the four levels of strategies presented. Eenie represents the low-end,
do-it-yourself for as little money as possible strategy, and the scale
goes up to Moe who is spending many thousands of dollars for his e-business
strategies.

The book is aimed
at those with little knowledge of the Web beyond using it, and basically
provides links to Web sites and dot-com services to help organizations
develop their e-business strategy, at the four different cost levels. Each
chapter starts with a few pages describing an e-business concept, like
digital delivery, affiliate marketing, or e-government, and then ends with
a paragraph or two by each "prophet" describing a way for the concept to
be implemented. The "strategies" primarily consist of describing a company
on the Web that can implement that particular service for you, in the designated
price range. Since it is rare that there is only one company that offers
any given service, I wondered how the included companies were chosen.

The book is "supported"
by a Web site [http://www.internetprophets.com]
that does not appear to even follow the author's own advice. When I checked
the site while writing this review, the first thing that caught my eye
was an ad for this book saying, "Coming soon." Checking the publisher's
Web site, I was assured the book was available. A link offering to "list
your company" was a form that asked for credit card information, told me
there is a fee for listings, but never actually mentioned the price. It
does make one question the validity of anything in the book.

Still, since the
main focus of the book is to provide you with Web-based services that can
help you implement your own e-business strategy, the URLs that are provided
are useful. I thought there was a handy appendix to the URLs listed, but
it turns out that many of the URLs listed in the chapters are not included
in this appendix. The book tries to cover too many topics and ends up doing
justice to few. With so many books available on establishing true e-business
strategies, I'd give this one a miss.